ARLINGTON, Texas—Despite wining the past two American League pennants, the Texas Rangers begin 2012 in a difficult spot.

First, no one knows how the club will respond after losing the World Series not once, but twice—coming within a strike of the championship in 2011. Adrian Beltre and Michael Young are among the Rangers who admit they still are trying to get past the disappointment.

Then there are the Los Angeles Angels. Clearly not content with being reduced to second fiddle in the AL West the past two seasons, the Angels went on a $350-plus million spending spree that landed them the game's best player, Albert Pujols, as well as the Rangers' best starter in 2011, C.J. Wilson.

So not only will the Rangers face daily inquiries this spring about their World Series letdown, they will be expected to heap praise on their biggest rivals, a team that lured away their top starter. It doesn’t sound like the recipe for a fun camp.

Well, don't count manager Ron Washington among the downcast. His feistiness came through loud and clear Thursday night at the club's awards program. While on stage for a baseball roundtable, the skipper was asked about the Angels' moves since finishing 10 games behind the Rangers.

Before answering, Washington thought a dramatic effect was in order. "I'm going to stand up and I want y'all to pay attention," he told a crowd of about 750 that included a dozen of his players at the front table.

Washington stood up and made sure he was in full view of all.

"See, I'm not shaking," he said to a loud cheer. Washington then credited the Angels before delivering a final message.

"I don't want you to lose sight of one thing," he told the audience. "The Texas Rangers are the American League champions. They definitely will have to come through Texas before anything goes through Anaheim."

And: "I can tell you this: We will be ready to play. We will not have a hangover from 2011."

You can believe him, too. Beyond their motivational manager, the Rangers have plenty of reasons to stay on top of the American League. Among them:

1. They will get their ace. Although Wilson won 16 games, worked 223 1/3 innings and posted a 2.94 ERA last season, the Rangers did not seem bothered when he chose the Angels. Wilson, in fact, says Texas never made a firm offer.

The Rangers, however, made quite a bid—$51.7 million—just to win the negotiating rights to Yu Darvish, a 25-year-old righthander considered to be a potentially dominant starter by those who have seen him pitch in Japan. Though the deadline to sign Darvish is Wednesday and he figures to score at least a $50 million deal, you can bet he won't get away.

"He wants to be here," general manager Jon Daniels said, adding that the negotiating timetable has proceeded just as he expected.

When Darvish visited Texas two weeks ago, he met with some players working out at Rangers Ballpark and left a favorable impression on everyone.

"He was bigger than I thought," Ryan said. "I liked his attitude about wanting to compete. He represented what I had been led to believe. I felt real good about it."

2. Josh Hamilton is healthy. For now, anyway. After the oft-injury former MVP limped through the World Series with a bad left leg and a sore core, Hamilton had offseason surgery. A week later he was running and now is in preseason training mode. "I'm in full workouts," he told ESPN Thursday night. "I'm not behind at all."

3. The pitching staff will be deeper. In addition to the expected addition of Darvish, the Rangers signed closer Joe Nathan so All-Star Neftali Feliz can join the rotation, marking the third consecutive year the club will convert a full-time reliever.

Nathan struggled much of last season in his return from Tommy John surgery but by season's end, he was snapping his trademark curve and pitching like he did in his prime.

"Nathan was one of only a couple of guys we had interest in to close for us," Daniels said. "He's in tremendous shape. It says 37, (but) his body looks like it's probably about 25. His arm is in good shape. He's going to fit in well for us."

4. There is no Michael Young distraction. To prove these Rangers know how to move forward, consider the situation a year ago. It was around this time when Young, the longtime face of the franchise, asked to be traded because the club had committed $80 million to Adrian Beltre to take over Young's position.

Well, the biggest winners at Thursday’s awards program were Beltre and Young. Beltre took home a Gold Glove, a platinum Gold Glove (voted on by fans as the AL's top defensive player) and a Silver Slugger award while Young was named the club's player of the year for the fifth time.

During an on-stage Q&A after receiving his award, Young answered every question with a time-first attitude. Then came the last one: What's it like to always say the right thing?

Young took the microphone and tossed it on the stage.

He was smiling, of course. Despite the challenges brought on by last year's shortcoming, he knows these are good times to play for the Rangers.